Charlie Baker’s fisherman story should cause him anger, not tears - Boston Globe

[Mass]

This is not that often that I agree with Joan Vennochi, but this story about Baker and the fisherman's son got me mad, particularly because it shows Baker's phoniness and the media's idiocy.

For those who did not see the debate last night, they were asked when was the last time they cried.

Coakley talked about a funeral she went to the previous day for a labor leader that died prematurely from leukemia. She connected it with one of her parents dying from leukemia. She was very credible.

Then came Baker's turn to answer.

You can read the story at the link

A father, who also happened to be a fisherman “soaked in sweat and salt water,” prevented his sons from taking college scholarships because he wanted them to become fishermen, too.


“I ruined their lives,” said Baker, quoting the father, as the candidate emotionally recounted the anecdote during Tuesday’s debate.

If this unidentified fisherman did indeed stop his sons from pursuing college degrees so they could take up the family business, that is one self-centered dad. So much for following their dreams — he wanted his children to follow his own.

Not only did he said the story, which I am not sure was worth crying for, but he literally choked up several times telling it. It seems to me that Baker has a hard time connecting to people's real problems.

I was happy to see Vennochi catch that and catch the fact the story was not even from this campaign, but from 2009.

Hearing that story would make many people angry.

But not Baker. So anxious was he to show heart and compassion, he lost his composure over an anecdote that occurred in 2009, when he was running against Governor Deval Patrick. Reporting on it in 2010, then-columnist and now Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory wrote that Baker “talked about a sweaty and solemn fisherman who described his job as a ‘cancer’” and regretted bringing his two sons into a vocation that was heading toward death.

There is even doubt the story is true as the Globe was not able to locate the fisherman.

I felt sorry it was the last debate, as his meanness and impatience started to show really badly. Hopefully, people will see that.